Life-saving chute

ABSTRACT

A life-saving chute comprising a plurality of descending passages is provided, wherein each one of the descending passages is composed of a flexible vertically oriented tubular member and a bottom member perpendicular thereto and being disposed in any one of a plurality of vertically oriented columns in its condition of use, with each adjacent pair of the passages in descending order adjoining each other as upper and lower ones thereof and being disposed in different or adjacent ones of the columns and having an opening for connecting with each other.

United States Patent Katsube Aug. 26, 1975 l l LIFE-SAVING CHUTE [76]Inventor: Akinaga Katsube, 9-16-5, 4-chome f Examlrlle'gEvon BlunkSakuracho, Hatogayashia Saimma, Assistant Exammer.lames L. Rowland JapanAttorney, Agent, or FirmOblon, Fisher, Spivak,

McClelland & Maier [22] Filed: Apr. 19, 1974 App]. No.: 462,441

[ 5 7 ABSTRACT A life-saving chute comprising a plurality of descendingpassages is provided, wherein each one of the descending passages iscomposed of a flexible vertically oriented tubular member and a bottommember perpendicular thereto and being disposed in any one of aplurality of vertically oriented columns in its condition of use, witheach adjacent pair of the passages in descending order adjoining eachother as upper and lower ones thereof and being disposed in different oradjacent ones of the columns and having an opening for connecting witheach other.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Pmminmsz lsis FIGS FIGZ

LIFE-SAVING CHUTE BACKGROUND OF THE INvENTION 1. Field of the InventionThe present invention relates generally to safety chutes, and moreparticularly to a life saving chute especially suitable for permittingsafe vertical descent by an individual from a high building or the likewithout undue anxiety in emergency situations.

2. Description of the Prior Art Various life saving chutes forpermitting safe vertical descent from high buildings in emergencysituations have been proposed in the past. There is, for example, a lifesaving chute which has a tubular member and a plurality of plainsupporting members made of cloth or the like disposed within the tubularmember designed to operate in steplike fashion. Thus, each supportingmember has an opening for permitting descent therethrough to the nextlower supporting member. But, when a person, in such an emergencysituation, descends, it is very difficult for him to make a confirmableor positive stop on each supporting member, but rather there is adistinct possibility and likelihood that he will slip onto the nextsupporting member and drop through the opening thereof with anaccelerated dropping velocity. Therefore, this concept has not been usedpractically. because of its inherent unsafe characteristics.

Another life-saving chute for permitting vertical descent underemergency conditions having a plurality of contracted portions disposedalong a tubular member by elastical material for reducing the velocityof descending refugees, or escapees, has been proposed. But, when aperson attempting to escape from an emergency condition, passes throughthe contracted portions. reduction of his descending velocity dependsupon the cross-sectional area of his body. Some times, it is verydifficult for him to pass the contracted portions, and at other times,his velocity will be accelerated because of easy passage through thecontracted portions. The chute has another defect, and that is, thatwhen many persons attempt to enter the chute substantially at the sametime, the contracted portions will be opened by their total weight andthus broken out.

Therefore, there are no known life-saving chutes available which haveproven to be entirely satisfactory for descending vertically from a highbuilding or the like without undue anxiety on the part of the escapee incase of fire or the like which necessitates his esaping in order toavoid what appears to be certain injury, and thus to preserve his life.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of this inventionto provide an improved life-saving chute suitable for safe verticaldescent from a high building or the like under emergency conditionswithout undue anxiety.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved life-savingchute for permitting vertical descent which is suitable for admittingescapees into the chute from various stories of a building or the like.

The foregoing and other objects are achieved by this invention throughthe provision of a life saving chute which has a plurality of descendingpassages, each of which is composed of a vertically oriented flexibletubular member and a bottom member perpendicular thereto and disposed inany one of a plurality of vertically oriented columns in its conditionof use, with each adjacent pair of descending passages being adjoined toeach other as upper and lower ones and disposed in different ones of thecolumns and having an opening for connecting with each other. The chutemay have rigid members at the positions of the bottom members so as toalways maintain the outer configuration of the bottom members. Thebottom members may of course be rigid members. The chute may have only apair of the columns such that the descending passages are disposedalternately within the columns. At least one of the descending passages,except the uppermost one, may be opened directly to the outside so as toadmit escapees. The chute may have flexible elongated slender members inthe descending passages was to let escapees grasp them and slide downalong them. Further, the chute may have flexible ladders in thedescending passages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Various other objects, features andattendant advantages of the present invention will be more fullyappreciated as the same becomes better understood from the followingdetailed description when considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings in which like reference characters designate like orcorresponding parts throughout the several views and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a chute of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a rigid member of the invention;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of a modified chute of the presentinvention being partly cut-away; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 in FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings,and more particularly to FIGS. 1-4 thereof, there is shown a life savingchute formed according to this invention in its condition of use whichhas an outer flexible member 10 made of a fireproof cloth or the likebeing elongated vertically along a desired line of descent, and an innerflexible member 11 also made of fireproof cloth or the like. The innerflexible member 11 divides the outer flexible member 10 into twovertically oriented elongated portions or columns 12 and 13. The chutehas a plurality of descending passages 16, 17, 18 and 19 which composeplural steps of such descent alternately belonging or being disposed inthe file or column 12 and the file or column 13. An outlet portion 20 isformed in the lowest position of the column 12 being connected to thelast passage 19.

Each one of the passages is composed of at least a portion of a flexibletubular member 22 and a bottom member 23 at the bottom thereof. Eachtubular member 22 is composed of a part of the outer flexible member 10and a part of the inner dividing flexible member 11. The bottom member23 of each passage is made of fireproof cloth or the like. Rigid members24 are placed in the uppermost part of the chute and in the lining ofthe bottom members 23. Therefore, the bottom members 23 are able toalways maintain their outer configurations.

Each pair of the descending passages adjoin each other as upper andlower ones, for example the passages 16 and 17, but are disposedrespectively in different ones of the columns 12 and 13, and have anopening 26 formed in the border portion of the flexible tubular member22 or in the dividing member 11 for connecting each other and thuspermitting passage therebetween. In this embodiment, there are a pair ofcolumns 12 and 13, therefore, the descending passages are disposedalternately in the files l2 and 13, but there could be more columns, ifdesired.

A hanging or supporting member 27 of rope, wire or the like is connectedto the rigid member 24 at the uppermost end of the chute. A flexibleelongated slender member 28 made of rope, a belt or the like is disposedin each of the descending passages so as to let escapees grasp it andslide down along it within each of the vertically elongate passages.

In the case of fire, the chute will be disposed as shown in FIG. 2 beingreleased from its folded condition and supported by the member 27 from asuitable place on the building. An escapee will enter into the passage16 and grasp the slender member 28 and slide along it down onto thebottom member 23 of the passage, where he will make a confirmable stopthereon. Then, the escapee can pass through the opening 26 and descendin a similar manner in the descending passage 17. At that time, anotherescapee may enter the passage 16. Thus, escapees descend through all ofthe descending passages and escape or leave through the outlet portionat the bottom.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, there is shown another embodiment of this invention,in which there is shown a plurality of descending passages 31, 32 and33, respectively. But the chute does not have an outer flexible member10 as does the embodiment shown in FIGS. l-4. Tension members orflexible elongated members 35 made of belt or the like are fixed betweenpairs of rigid members 24 at both ends thereof, as shown in FIG. 5, soas to provide inlet openings 35 in the upper portions of the passages 32and 33 respectively. Escapees may be admitted directly to the chutethrough these inlet openings 36 from various stories of a building orthe like.

The chutes described above have a number of advantages, particularly inthat each chute enables safe vertical descent from a high building orthe like without any undue anxiety. The chute shown in FIGS. 5 and 6further enables entry into the chute from various stories of a buildingor the like.

The foregoing is of course considered as illustrative only of theprinciple of the invention. Obviously, nu-

merous modifications and variations of the present invention arepossible in light of the above teachings. The chute can have three ormore columns to provide the descending passages. The chute may also haverigid bottom members instead of the rigid liners, and it may haveflexible ladders made of rope or the like instead of the flexibleelongated slender rope members 28.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

l. A life saving chute comprising a plurality of descending passages,each one of said descending passages being composed of a flexibletubular member and a bottom member and disposed in any one of aplurality of columns which are vertically oriented during use, thebottom surface of the space defined by each one of said tubular membersbeing completely closed by said bottom member so as to provide means forcompletely stopping the vertical descent of an escaping person, eachadjacent pair of said descending passages adjoining each other as upperand lower ones thereof being disposed in different ones of said columnsand having an opening therebetween for permitting a person to move froman upper to a lower one of said passages, wherein each one of saidopenings is provided in a common vertical portion of said tubularmembers, said portion being oriented vertically during use, and saidlife saving chute being movable as a whole.

2. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, wherein rigid membersare connected with said bottom members so as to always maintain theouter forms of said bottom members.

3. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, wherein said bottommembers are rigid members.

4. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, wherein said descendingpassages are disposed alternately in said plurality of said columns.

5. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, wherein at least one ofsaid descending passages other than the uppermost one is open directlyto the outside to admit escaping persons.

6. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, further comprisingflexible elongated slender members in said descending passages which maybe grasped to permit users to slide down along them to a lower passage.

7. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, further comprisingflexible ladders disposed in said descending passages.

8. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, wherein a plurality ofsaid descending passages are open directly to the outside to admitescaping persons.

1. A life saving chute comprising a plurality of descending passages, each one of said descending passages being composed of a flexible tubular member and a bottom member and disposed in any one of a plurality of columns which are vertically oriented during use, the bottom surface of the space defined by each one of said tubular members being completely closed by said bottom member so as to provide means for completely stopping the vertical descent of an escaping person, each adjacent pair of said descending passages adjoining each other as upper and lower ones thereof being disposed in different ones of said columns and having an opening therebetween for permitting a person to move from an upper to a lower one of said passages, wherein each one of said openings is provided in a common vertical portion of said tubular members, said portion being oriented vertically during use, and said life saving chute being movable as a whole.
 2. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, wherein rigid members are connected with said bottom members so as to always maintain the outer forms of said bottom members.
 3. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, wherein said bottom members are rigid members.
 4. A life saving chute as set forth in clAim 1, wherein said descending passages are disposed alternately in said plurality of said columns.
 5. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, wherein at least one of said descending passages other than the uppermost one is open directly to the outside to admit escaping persons.
 6. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, further comprising flexible elongated slender members in said descending passages which may be grasped to permit users to slide down along them to a lower passage.
 7. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, further comprising flexible ladders disposed in said descending passages.
 8. A life saving chute as set forth in claim 1, wherein a plurality of said descending passages are open directly to the outside to admit escaping persons. 